Syrian government ready to talk

MOSCOW (AP) — The Syrian government is ready to hold talks with the armed opposition seeking to topple President Bashar Assad's regime, the country's foreign minister said today.

Walid al-Moallem, who was in Moscow to discuss Syria's civil war with Russian officials, did not say whether the rebels would first have to lay down their arms before Damascus would agree to sit with them at the negotiating table.

Still, the offer marked the first time that a high-ranking Syrian official has stated publicly that the government would meet with opposition fighters.

"We're ready for a dialogue with anyone who's willing for it," al-Moallem said. "Even with those who carry arms. We are confident that reforms will come about not with the help of bloodshed but through dialogue."

Syria's 23-month conflict, which has killed more than 70,000 people and destroyed many of the country's cities, has repeatedly confounded international efforts to bring the parties together. Russia, a close Assad ally and his regime's chief advocate on the international stage, offered last Wednesday to broker talks in concert with the Arab League between the rebels and the government.

The proposal — which the Kremlin would be unlikely to float publicly without first securing Damascus' word that it would indeed take part — suggested the regime could be warming to the idea of a settlement as it struggles to hold territory and claw back ground it has lost to the rebels.

Ahead of the meeting with al-Moallem today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated his call for Damascus to negotiate with the opposition, saying that "the situation in Syria is at a crossroads now." He also warned that further fighting could lead to "the break-up of the Syrian state."

Past government offers for talks with the opposition have included a host of conditions, such as for the rebels to first lay down their weapons. Those proposals have been swiftly rejected by both activists outside the country as well as rebels on the ground.

The prospect of negotiating with the armed opposition is made all the more difficult by the fractured state of those fighting to topple the regime — there are dozens of brigades and groups across the country and no unified command.

The head of one group, Free Syrian Army chief Gen. Salim Idriss, said he is "ready to take part in dialogue within specific frameworks" but then rattled off several conditions the regime has flatly rejected in the past.

"There needs to be a clear decision on the resignation of the head of the criminal gang Bashar Assad and for those who participated in the killing of the Syrian people to be put on trial," Idriss told pan-Arab Al-Arabiya TV.

He said the government must agree to stop all kinds of violence and hand over power, saying that "as rebels, this is our bottom line."

In a speech in January, Assad offered to lead a national dialogue to end the bloodshed but also said he would not talk with the armed opposition and vowed to keep on fighting. The opposition rejected the proposal.